Article from Q Magazine in March 1996, reprinted in The Guardian in April 2015, refers to this show. Billy Bragg explains the circumstances surrounding the show thus:

" Bragg: Newcastle was heaven and hell. The best gig but the worst day. Right through the tour we had constant problems with the extremists, like our friends in the Young Socialists. They would make promises, without bothering to tell us, that Red Wedge acts would perform in various halls and community centres and so on in the afternoons before the gigs. Then, at the last minute, we’d find out and have to rush off to save their bacon.

Some clown promised the Riverside Club in Newcastle that Red Wedge bands would play there at lunchtime. The poor bloke running the hall ended up with 500 restless Geordies starting to turn a bit grim, and no sign of an act. As it happened, Elvis Costello was playing on The Tube that day, which was done in studios in Newcastle, so somebody had the wit to run round and ask him if he’d come and do something. He had nothing to do with Red Wedge but, God bless him, he went along there and played, probably because he knew there’d be a riot if he didn’t."